Given the recent trend of things, it appears the zone defense is back in the NBA whether you like it or not. Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra and his team’s roster have played a big part in ushering it back to its surge in league-wide relevance.
After a 2017-18 season in which the entire NBA played just 638 total possessions that qualified as zone defense (per Synergy), 10 teams played 154 or more possessions of zone defense in 2018-19, none more than the 1053 possessions of zone defense that the Miami Heat played.
In the renewed usage of the zone, there may have been something of a shock effect for offenses seeing it in high volume for the first time at the NBA level.